Jennifer Lawrence is right; the long-term effects of revenge porn live on

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Jennifer Lawrence still suffers from the effects of revenge pornCredit:
REUTERS/Hannah McKay

In 2014, if you searched Jennifer Lawrence’s name on Google, there were pages and pages of entries about the revenge porn attack on her that year. It was impossible to talk about her without the hack of her private nude images coming up. Her name was synonymous with ‘revenge porn victim’.

Three years later, those posts have been lost in the thousands of new headlines about the actress, her career, her love life, her latest outfits - and so on. They aren’t even visible after 10 pages on the search engine. But in Lawrence’s mind, the attack is something she still thinks about. The rest of the world may have forgotten, but she is still living with the after-effects of revenge porn every day.

"I think people saw [the hacking] for what it was, which was a sex crime, but that feeling, I haven't been able to get rid of it,” she told Vogue. “Having your privacy violated constantly isn't a problem if you're perfect. But if you're human, it's terrifying. I'm always waiting to get blindsided again.”

This is normal. The effects of revenge porn - a sex crime - do not disappear just because the pictures have been taken down, or even if the culprit has been brought to justice. Like with all sex crimes, the effects can be long-lasting, varied and completely individual.

“Revenge porn is a form of abuse, and with survivors of sexual abuse, they struggle with shame, guilt and the feeling of being violated and dirty,” explains psychotherapist Noel Bell. “They don’t feel they can share with someone, so the process of recovery for them is to find people they can share their grief with. It's a trauma."

But, unlike other sex crimes, revenge porn also has the practical long-term effect of still existing somewhere in the ethers of the internet. Even if photos are removed from sites they were posted on, they can occasionally still resurface. This is something that Chrissy Chambers has found.

Chrissy Chambers

The 26-year-old YouTuber found intimate videos of her on the internet back in 2013. The videos were four years old, and depicted her ex-boyfriend having sex with her while she was semi-unconscious, and she couldn’t even remember that encounter taking place. Last year, she told me how it had completely destroyed her.

After the initial trauma, of collapsing, screaming and sobbing, she tried to move on. But for three years, she was plagued by what happened to her. She ended up turning to alcohol to deal with it, and then became an alcoholic. She has now overcome that, but still suffers from night terrors and post-traumatic stress.

“My lawyers have managed to get most of the content down,” she said. “But there are still links out there to this day and when you Google the videos there are links you can find. Even if goes to a dead page it still says my full name.

“I feel defeated and exposed and humiliated and outraged. It’s been an exhausting three years. I’ve suffered so much and I know so many victims have also suffered – some have never managed to have the content removed and have had to change their names and lives.”

To Bell, this is devastating, but not surprising. It is something he sees often with clients who have been victims of revenge porn. “Control is lost, because sharing is so viral. People feel powerless. It creates reputational damage and there’s no sense of closure. There’s always a sense of fear.”

He explains it can also lead to a loss of trust. “There’s different layers because if it was someone you once trusted, that can particularly be more devastating for people, particularly teenagers. It can have long-term effects where there’s almost a degree of paranoia about, would it happen again?”

Laura Bullock can attest to that. She became a victim of revenge porn in 2013 after she split up with her ex Dan Shipley. Last year, she spoke about how she had felt suicidal after finding the photos of her online, and how the long-term effects had changed her, even several years later.

“I feel like I can't trust men at all. I used to be bubbly and confident but now I can't be on my own in the house,” she told the Mail. “I feel paranoid and I've been on medication for anxiety and depression. Sometimes I feel like I will never be the same again.”

Some revenge porn victims cannot even talk about what happened to them. One, who found intimate images of herself posted by an ex in 2013, was unable to speak to me for this article because to this day she still struggles with the after-effects of it. “I don’t feel comfortable talking about it,” she said, and indeed, the news about the revenge porn is still the first thing to come up when her name is searched online.

But, most revenge porn victims say that the way they have managed to move forwards with their life is with the support of friends and family, and by trying to ensure that justice is served. For Chambers, that meant starting a legal battle to use British courts to sue websites over revenge porn. If she is successful, it could result in a change in law and ensure revenge porn sites are held accountable for hosting these videos.

“If my story can make a change, then maybe all of this suffering won’t have been in vain,” said Chambers. “I feel a moral and social responsibility to follow through.”